Contemporary electronics are characterized by additional or greatly enhanced functionality. Hand-held telephones and other mobile host devices are capable of streaming high-quality video and running sophisticated Internet applications. Such additional and enhanced functionality are implemented in host devices further characterized by increasingly small physical size. Television sets that were once large pieces of furniture now hang on the wall and have a thickness of only a couple of inches.
The provision of additional and/or enhanced functionality within smaller and smaller host devices results in commensurate performance requirements on constituent semiconductor apparatuses. That is, a semiconductor apparatus must provide additional or enhanced functionality while occupying less and less space within the host device. This general requirement has motivated semiconductor designers to develop stacked semiconductor apparatuses. A stacked semiconductor apparatus is one wherein the ultimately provided package includes two or more functional devices vertically stacked one on top of the other. The term “vertically stacked” denotes aspects of both mechanically mounting the devices one on top of the other and electrically connecting the mechanically mounted devices.
A stacked semiconductor apparatus offers many benefits related to the provision of increased and/or enhanced functionality per unit of surface area occupied by the apparatus. However, the fabrication, testing, and incorporation of stacked semiconductor apparatuses within a host device present some unique challenges.